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Dr. Jason Johnson is a professor, political analyst and public speaker. Fresh, unflappable, objective, he is known for his ability to break down stories with wit and candor. Dr. Jason Johnson is an up and coming voice in political and social commentary. Johnson is the author the book Political Consultants and Campaigns: One Day to Sell, which has been featured in Campaigns and Elections magazine and on National Public Radio.He is a tenured professor in the School of Global Journalism & Communication at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland.Dr. Johnson has an extensive public speaking and media background ranging from pop culture to politics.

Dr. Johnson currently serves as Politics Editor for The Root, the premier news, opinion and culture site for African-American influencers. The Root provides smart, timely coverage of breaking news, thought-provoking commentary and gives voice to a changing, more diverse America.

Dr. Johnson has been active in politics for many years, making him a valuable guest or panelist in many venues. He has worked for both Republicans and Democrats as a campaign manager and assistant state director in a series of legislative campaigns in South Carolina, Maryland and Virginia. Internationally, Johnson worked on the 2001 London mayoral race, and in 2007 he was an honored guest of the Independent Electoral Commission in Johannesburg, South Africa. He has been an international elections observer in Mexico, covering the hotly contested 2006 and 2012 presidential elections as well as the 2009 midterm legislative elections during the turbulent drug wars. In early 2012, Dr. Johnson participated in a two-week speaking tour throughout Germany on Internet Strategy in Presidential Campaigns sponsored by the U.S. State Department.

Professor Jason Johnson is a frequently quoted guest and political commentator: in print, television, radio and online. Dr. Johnson has been quoted as an expert on politics by The Hill, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Forbes, The Washington Times, The Christian Science Monitor the Cincinnati Enquirer, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Yomiuri Shimbun (Japan’s largest circulation newspaper), O Globo in Brazil, and the Edinburgh Scotsman, as well as Black Enterprise and Essence magazine. He previously served as Politics Editor for The Source Magazine, Chief Political Correspondent for Politic365 and wrote a weekly column for the Chicago Defender, the New Pittsburgh Courier and the Real Times Media Syndicate. His work has appeared on NBC and NBC BLK, as well as the Huffington Post, CNN, BET.com, and Al Jazeera.

Dr. Johnson has spoken to and moderated for, groups both large and small, from intimate guest classroom lectures at Northwestern University, to the Northeast Ohio Small Business Association annual dinner. He is noted for his ability to bring objectivity, humor and substance to his keynotes which makes him accessible to audiences on both sides of the political aisle. Groups as diverse as the League of Women Voters, County Republican Associations, The Congressional Black Caucus Boot Camp, Morehouse College, Spelman College, Northwestern University and international audiences on three continents have all found him to be engaging, accessible and informative.

The Root: Jason Johnson at #BlackRNC Party
While in Cleveland for the Republican National Convention, The Root Politics Editor Jason Johnson attended a party thrown in honor of black Republicans. Dr. Johnson interviewed Jennifer McNeely, an alternate in the Georgia delegation, Jeff Johnson of JIJ Communications, and Republican Congressional candidate Lenny McAllister.

The first week of the New Year is the perfect time for political predictions, trend-spotting and a whole host of other prognostications about the upcoming year, only half of which will likely come true. However, 2016 won’t be like most election years. It’s an open-seat election; we’re definitely getting a new president-elect by November, unless something really strange happens. It will be the most racially diverse electorate in American history, and to top it off, there has been such sustained activism, turnout may break new records. With these trends in mind, these are five things to look out for in the 2016 election season:

1. Black vs. Brown in California

Who could bring Jamie Foxx, John Legend, Seth McFarlane, Sean Penn and Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg to work together? Kamala Harris. Running for the U.S. Senate, Harris has been dubbed the “female Obama” by supporters. And her diverse heritage, fast-track career and endorsements from celebrities, both political and otherwise, have made her a star in the state of California before one ballot has been cast.

Harris has shot to fame in California for being the embodiment of several political “firsts”—she’s the first woman, African American and Asian American (her mother was from India) to serve as attorney general in California.

The seat she’s going after is being vacated by long-serving, powerful Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, who chose not to run in 2016, leaving open a California Senate seat in a state that couldn’t be bluer and safer if it were surrounded by Smurfs. However, Harris faces competition from Loretta Sanchez, a long-term Democratic congresswoman from Southern California. The primary in June could test what kinds of coalitions still exist with African-American and Latino voters in California and, if it gets ugly, could complicate Democratic chances down the ballot.

2. The Republican Primary

The Republican presidential primary began with enough people to field a very old, very rich and mostly white college basketball team. But as the months have gone on, the field has begun to winnow (five Republicans have actually dropped out already). The primaries will likely have a much more reasonably sized group of men and women running for president. We have no idea what to expect in these primaries, which is partially why the role of women, minorities and other groups may be incredibly important. Perhaps Donald Trump—the front-runner—runs away with the race, all political hell breaks loose, the Republicans are reduced to a party of angry racists and xenophobes, and Hillary Clinton is dabbing toward the White House in November. The more likely scenario, however, is that the race is a long slog between Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and perhaps a surprise candidate. This presents an interesting situation for African-American primary voters.

Over the last two election cycles, Republicans have been willing to court black voters in open-party primaries when the white voters are split, and we may see similar strategies in 2016. Ben Carson’s campaign has been actively encouraging African-American voters to vote in the GOP South Carolina primary to bolster his chances. If the primary race drags on, we could see similar moves in swing states like Georgia, Virginia and Michigan.

3. Local Elections

Since the killing of Michael Brown and the subsequent riots in Ferguson, Mo.—a mostly black suburb with a mostly white government—the African-American community has been gripped by discussions about the importance of local voter turnout. The argument is that the local City Council, as well as the district attorney’s and mayor’s offices, are just as important to Black Lives Mattering as who is in the White House.

There are crucial mayoral races in Oakland, Calif.; Austin, Texas; and Milwaukee, not to mention Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, in 2016. The county prosecutors who failed in the George Zimmerman and Tamir Rice cases are up for re-election this year, as well. While African-American turnout is never a sure thing, if there were a year where national elections could bleed over into local activism and turnout and change some local lives for the better, this is the year.

4. Vice Presidential Lottery

The importance of the vice presidential pick is always overstated, except this year. With Hillary Clinton the likely Democratic nominee and a two-thirds chance that the Republicans will field a Cuban American (either Cruz or Rubio) as their nominee, the selection of the vice president as a balancing act becomes all the more important.

Will candidates seek a racial balance in their nominees? Will Clinton try to shore up the Latino vote by picking one of the Castro twins (Joaquin Castro is a Democratic House member, and his twin, Julián, is former mayor of San Antonio and the current secretary of housing and urban development) as her running mate? Will Rubio go the Obama-Biden route and seek an older, wiser running mate? Would Cruz try to pick a moderate white male as a running mate to appeal to independent voters, or would he double down on his hard-right positions? Would Trump pickOmarosa? With African Americans, Latinos, women and men in the potential mix for running mates, 2016 could end up having the most diverse presidential tickets in American history.

5. The Last Year of Obama

There is really no way to predict how the final full year of the Obama presidency will play out. The cultural impact of this president, the policies that he may enact, and the role he plays both as a motivator for voters and a catalyst for Republicans are almost immeasurable. He certainly isn’t a lame duck in the symbolic sense. Barack Obama’s, along with Michelle Obama’s, ability to galvanize, inspire or possibly disappoint African-American voters in a crucial election year will be the single most important factor in who will win the White House in 2016. If President Obama can translate his organization, and enthusiasm, for one last push, then the new Democratic coalition he built in 2008 may last two more election cycles. If the coalition fails, or if he cannot translate passion for him into passion for Clinton, Democrats could be facing a Republican-dominated House, Senate, a majority of state legislatures and, of course, the presidency.

Dr. Jason Johnson, guest-hosting for Michael Smerconish on Sirius XM, talks to Denver Post political reporter John Frank about the CNBC Republican Presidential Primary debate, which was held in Boulder, Colorado.

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About Jason Johnson

Dr. Jason Johnson is a professor, political analyst and public speaker. Fresh, unflappable, objective, he is known for his ability to break down stories with wit and candor. Johnson is the author the book Political Consultants and Campaigns: One Day to Sell, a tenured professor in the School of Global Journalism & Communication at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland and Politics Editor at TheRoot.com. Dr. Johnson has an extensive public speaking and media background ranging from … [Read More...] about About Jason Johnson